BrexitThe uk and the eu's tragic breakup

What does Article 50 have to do with Brexit?

Article 50 is a clause in the EU treaty that allows a country in the EU to leave in the event they want to. According to Alex Hunt and Brian Wheeler, News reporters for BBC, “For the UK to leave the EU it has to invoke an agreement called Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty which gives the two sides two years to agree the terms of the split.” The UK leaving the EU was an enactment of Article 50, that may cause other European countries to leave the EU in the future. The UK Government attempted to pass Article 50 without consulting Parliament. There ended up being a vote whether or not the UK government should be able to pass Article 50, and it lost 8 to 3. (Andrew Sparrow, The Guardian) The UK Government choosing to enact Article 50 without consulting parliament would have been a risky decision.

What incentive to people of the UK have to leave the EU?

There are a couple of reasons why the citizens of the UK would want to leave the EU, including economy and Immigration. The number of immigrants coming into the UK was 333,000 in 2015, up from 44,000 in 1991. Almost half of all those immigrants come from the EU. (Ivana Kottasova, CNN) The reason the citizens of the UK think this a problem is because many believe this is putting a strain on public services. Another reason UK citizens want to leave is because of economy. According to Ivana Kottasova, CNN news reporter “The U.K. pays more to the EU than it receives in benefits. Last year, the net contribution was £9.8 billion -- about £188 million a week.” If the UK is paying more benefits than it’s receiving, then leaving the UK is an economical choice that most people would prefer to make.

What does Brexit mean for the future of the UK’s economy?

Brexit isn’t good for the UK’s economy, because of the reduced trading with other european countries. Currently, the value of the Pound remains close to a 30-year low in the UK, even after the initial shock to the economy (Alex Hunt/Brian Wheeler ). If the initial shock sent the value of the Pound to a 30 year low, the extended effect is going to bring it down even more. According to Owen Jones, A reporter for the New York Times, “An Eton-educated prime minister warned that a vote for Brexit would ‘put a bomb under our economy’”. As a result, it was clear that the economy falling apart isn’t a surprise to everyone.

What will happen to EU citizens in the UK?

The UK leaving the EU has more than Economical effects, including what happens to UK Citizens currently working in the EU and EU citizens currently living in the UK. According to Asa Bennett, “The top destinations for British expats in the European Union are Spain (host to around 319,000), Ireland (249,000) and France (171,000).” Expats, being citizens currently residing in a country other than where they officially have citizenship, would be impacted largely by Brexit. Alex Hunt and Brian Wheeler state “The government has declined to give a firm guarantee about the status of EU nationals currently living in the UK”. This shows that currently, the status of EU citizens living in the UK are not guaranteed to be allowed to stay after Brexit.

Has anyone else tried to leave the EU?

As of right now, the only country other than the UK who has left the EU has been Greenland. According to Henry Bodkin, a news reporter from The Telegraph, “In 1982, infuriated by the then European Economic Community’s control of its fishing industry, Greenland voted by 52 per cent in a referendum to leave.” Greenland Left the EU because the government and its citizens were displeased with the EU’s ability to restrict fishing. It’s hard to compare the UK’s leave from the EU to when Greenland left, because greenland is a country of 59,000 people, and it’s economy is dominated by fishing and trade of such markets, and items. Britain isn’t any of these things. (James Mates, ITV) While Greenland also left the EU, you can’t really compare it to the UK leaving the EU now, because the situations and reasons aren’t similar enough.